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Designations Honor Moon Program Boosters

In a press conference Friday afternoon, NASA announced the
names of the launch vehicles that will carry the (still unnamed)
Crew Exploration Vehicle to the moon... and, eventually, to
Mars.

In keeping with the program's ultimate destination, the new
rockets will be collectively referred to as "Ares."

The namepays homage to the Greek god of war, Ares -- who, of
course, was known as Mars to ancient Romans.

SpaceRef Daily reports the designations of the rockets that will
carry the CEV and its related equipment into space will also pay a
respectful nod to the original rockets that carried astronauts to
the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Crew Launch Vehicle will be called Ares 1, and the Cargo
Launch Vehicle will be known as Ares 5... in honor of the
Saturn I and Saturn V boosters.